(MOTEGI, JAPAN) - Practice is underway at twin ring Motegi as the IndyCar Series gets ready for one of the more bizarre weekends in its 12-year history.

Tony Kanaan turned in the best lap of the two practice sessions at 200.842 miles per hour with Scott Dixon, Dan Wheldon and Helio Castroneves also topping the 200 mile-per-hour mark.

The cars were probably not in full qualifying trim for Thursday's practice sessions. The threat of rain had teams practicing with race setups as weather could wipe out tonight's final practice session as well as threatening qualifications. Qualifying is scheduled for 12:30 eastern time Friday morning with the race scheduled midnight Saturday morning.

Those teams that were affiliated with the IndyCar Series before unification are in Japan while the former Champ Car teams are in Long Beach, California for Sunday's Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The first practice session is scheduled for Friday morning with qualifying Friday afternoon and the race on Sunday afternoon.

Tune in for all the racing action Friday night starting at 11:30pm on South Central Indiana's sports leader, 1340 AM WBIW.